[The impact factor: a fair measure of research excellence in nursing?]

Nursing in Spain is now reaching a turning point due to the expansion of its academic horizons. In order to consolidate its existence and development, it must strengthen its scientific base. Bibliometric indicators report in a quantitative way on the production, transmission and consumption of scientific information, with the impact factor (IF) being the most internationally accepted bibliometric indicator. This is a tool that compares journals and assesses the relative importance of a journal within a scientific field, and its calculation is possible by consulting certain databases recording papers published in the major journals. Thomson Scientific analyzes the production of journals for this purpose, and annually ranks journals by their IF. It has become the benchmark for excellence in the evaluation of scientific production. An article published in a journal without an IF should not be judged in advance to be of lower quality. Given that few nursing publications are indexed, have a low IF, are almost exclusively English-speaking and from the U.S., this makes publishing more difficult in IF journals for nursing professionals, especially if they are not English-speaking. The journal's IF where the author publishes has become an increasingly strong criterion for resources allocation. In Spain, it is among the evaluation criteria of the Health Research Fund (FIS), the ANECA (National Agency for Quality Assessment and accreditation) and at the National Commission for the Assessment of Research. There have been several proposals for alternative indices to the IF, aimed at assessing the scientific excellence of the journals and papers published. In the nursing and care field, what is most relevant is that the generation of knowledge strengthens the discipline, and has a social impact capable, ultimately, of improving the care and health of the population these professionals serve. This raises the need for a bibliometric indicator, which incorporates the social and clinical research findings, considers the field of knowledge and the researcher's role in it, that reduces the importance of the publication language, and leads to the dissemination to an audience that may benefit more from the findings.